Qualifying a new Realtor to work with

OK, so you've read all the stuff about interviewing and hiring a Realtor.  Now What?

Since most home searching now begins on the Internet, find 4 homes that you think you might like, and call a Realtor.  If you are using a website that is published by a certain company, call the Realtor that the company is recommending for you.   If you are finding homes on generic sites like Zillow or Realtor.com, call anyone you wish.

Here are the two questions you should ask a Realtor: 

1)  I would like to see these homes, when would you be able to fit me into your schedule?
2)  What is your opinion of the neighborhood that these homes are in?

Yes, only 2 questions.  Why, because you can evaluate their response like this:

If the Realtor just says "How about Saturday Morning?" and  "These are all great neighborhoods", you might want to phone someone else.

Here is what the Realtor should say:

"Let me ask you a few questions.  How long have you been considering owning a new home?  (give them your answer)  How is it that you selected these homes?  (provide your answer)  Let me look these homes up to be sure that they are still available. (if you found them on a generic site, there is a good chance that they have been sold already)  Are you available at such-and-such a time to see these homes?  (work out a time to go see them)".  If they don't ask these specific questions, but still ask questions about you and what your interest in a new home is, that is OK.

An optional question from the Realtor may be "Are you planning on financing this on your own, or do you need the assistance of a mortgage company?".  Translated, this means are you paying cash, or do you need to borrow money?  Another question they may ask is "are you pre-qualified?".  Don't take offense to either of these questions.  However, if your aren't pre-qualified and they follow up with some version of "You need to have a pre-qualification before we see homes", you might want to find a different Realtor.  Anything else would be OK.

If he doesn't want to make an appointment to see homes at this point, go on to the next person.

You see, the reason that the Realtor should ask this question is to be able to serve you the best way possible.  If you already have financing, then the Realtor doesn't have to provide a lot of information.  If you don't have financing yet, he can be a valuable reference when you begin to look for financing.  If you are paying cash, he may be able to suggest a course that keeps more cash in your pocket.

In a nutshell, if you call a Realtor because you want to see some properties, he should set up a time to see them.  If he asks a few questions about the houses you want to see and a few questions about you, that is a great sign!  If he give you a lot of guff about being pre-qualified, you might want to move on.


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